I’m sharing old pictures of my granduncle, Archbishop Jose Ma. Cuenco (May 19, 1885-October 8, 1972). The following writeup is from Wikipedia, with some changes.
Jose Ma. Cuenco was the first of sixteen children of Mariano Albao Cuenco and Remedios Diosomito Lopez. He was the brother of my maternal grandfather, Senator Mariano Jesus Cuenco. Most of their children died in infancy.
Photo circa 1893, l‑r: Remedios, Jose Ma, Jaime (little boy in front), Mariano carrying Remedios, Mariano Jesus
Mariano Albao Cuenco was a poet, journalist and Clerk of Court. When he died in 1909, Remedios raised her surviving children: Jose Maria, Mariano Jesus, Remedios, and Miguel. Jose Maria became the Archbishop of Jaro; Mariano Jesus was Senate President at the height of his political career; Miguel became a congressman. Aside from politics, the Cuenco family was involved with writing and publishing. Their newspaper publishing house, the Imprenta Rosario, was one of Cebu’s early printshops.
I assume the young man standing right behind Remedios is Jose Ma. Cuenco
Jose Maria attended schools in Manila (Colegio San Vicente Ferrer, Colegio Sagrada Familia, Colegio de San Juan de Letra), in Cebu (Colegio Seminario San Carlos), and he took up law at Georgetown University in the United States. It was while he was in the US when he heard the call to become a priest. He was ordained on June 11, 1914.
1914 photo of the Cuenco Family in Cebu: l‑r: Maria, Filomena Alesna Cuenco (standing left), Concepcion (little girl with doll), Juana Lopez (seated) Remedios, Jose Maria, Lourdes (girl in front), Manuel (boy), Miguel (older boy in back), Remedios Diosomito
Jose Maria Cuenco was vicar general of the Cebu Diocese in 1925 and the founding parish priest of the city’s Santo Rosario parish in 1933. He became auxiliary bishop of Jaro in 1945. In 1951, he became Archbishop of Jaro.
Active and highly visible in evangelization work, Cuenco was the founder-editor of the Cebu Catholic newspaper El Boletin Catolico (1915–1930), continuing the work of his own father who was publisher-editor of the pioneering Catholic newspaper in Cebu, Ang Camatuoran (1902–1911). He authored and published close to a dozen books, mostly narratives of his travels and experiences, including Archbishop Cuenco: Autobiography (Iloilo: La Editorial, 1972), which came out shortly before he died in Jaro on October 8, 1972.
The following pictures are from Cecilia Brainard’s collection, including some pictures sent to Cecilia by a descendant of Judge Lyman Carlock the first American judge in Cebu, Philippines, in the early 1900s, soon after the US acquired the Philippines. As the Court of Clerk, Mariano Albao Cuenco worked closed with Judge Carlock and they and their families became friends.
Archbishop Cuenco with Generalissimo Franco of Spain
l‑r: Manuel Cuenco, Mariano Jesus Cuenco, Jose Ma. Cuenco, Miguel Cuenco
The following pictures came from the descendant of Judge Carlock who got in touch with me and sent me these pictures.
Judge Lyman Judy Carlock, first American Judge in Cebu
Archbishop Cuenco at the LJ Carlock Monument in Cebu (across the Cathedral seminary)
Plaza Carlock, Cebu City
Calle de Carlock, photo from Carlock’s descendant
Carlock Family with Jose Ma. Cuenco at Chautauqua. Jose Ma. Cuenco visited the Carlock family circa 1914, while he was a Georgetown student at Washington D.C.
Photo from the Carlock Descendant: this shows Margaret Louise Carlock with Andres Borromeo
This shows Margaret Louise Carlock with her Nurse in Cebu, 1903
I wrote about this in my travel blog:
https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2016/02/cebu-philippines-antique-photographs.html
https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2015/03/judge-lyman-j-carlock-first-american.html
Tags: Cebu, Philippines, antique photos, vintage photos, Cebuano, American period, Cuenco, Jose Cuenco, Lyman Carlock, Judge Carlock, history, politics, Filipino, Cebuano
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